The discussion page of Free Thinking Individuals Throughout the Shenandoah Valley.
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"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think." ...Martin Luther King, Jr.

RICHMOND, Nov. 10 -- Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, a wealthy businessman and Washington insider, filed paperwork Monday to launch a potential candidacy for Virginia governor.Ending months of speculation, McAuliffe said he plans to spend the next two months traveling to "every corner of Virginia" to gauge interest in his possible run.Read the Story

“We welcome Mr. McAuliffe to the race. We are confident that Delegate Moran’s 20 year record of fighting for Virginia, his partnership with Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, and his vision of Virginia, are what Virginians want in their next Governor. Delegate Moran helped make Virginia the best managed state in the nation so he doesn’t need governing advice from Washington, DC political operatives. Given Mr. McAuliffe’s previous ambitions to run for Governor of Florida, he needs to explain to the people of Virginia if he’s doing this for the right reasons.”

"Senator Deeds has always expected that other folks wouldenter this race and he's looking forward to anopen and honest debate about how we keep Virginiamoving forward to rebuild our economy and capitalizeon the historic progress seen last Tuesday by thevictories in Virginia of Barack Obama and Mark Warner."

The Republican Party must place its entire hopesupon Bob McDonnell who barely won overSenator Creigh Deedsin the race for Virginia Attorney Generalin 2005 by some 330 votes statewide.

Many argue that if an actual recount of theballots were done in 2005, the outcomecould have been quite different.

11 comments:

I think it's interesting how the dems are now seen as the fiscally responsible group and people are losing faith that the pubs can govern at all.I always considered myself conservative, and still do, but the pubs have left me scratching my head and wondering.

Who in the heck does Terry McAuliffe think he is to want to run for governor of VA? Deeds and Moran have been here, working for the good of the state for years. Now he wants to waltz in and take advantage of all their hard work. Does he even know where the Shenandoah Valley is?

Here in the Valley, we are going to need help to off-set the fund-raising capabilities of the Republican incumbents. We simply don't have the local resources to offset the funding shipped in by the RPV...plus the free rightwing propaganda from local media.

We can staff and organize the effort, but we'll need help. These are all very talented and devoted candidates - let's hope that everyone pitches in the final effort to oust the do-nothing Republican majority in the House of Delegates.

I am a Dem and have always voted that way but Terry is part of that DLC and VA does not need him. There are many good candidates out there. Since there are no house & senate seats to run for Mr McAuliffe feel that this is his ticket into Gov't.He dam near ran the party into the ground when he was chair of the DNC and it took H Dean to clean it up.Let's find someone else to nominate.

Deeds' attorneys argued to have the 500,000+ paper ballots and punch card ballots (the majority of which opti-scan type)re run through the machine while monitored to effect an actual "recount" but the three judge panel ruled against so doing.Instead the recount consisted primarily of re checking the tally tapes from the machines.

From the Washington Post:

"...The recount was conducted under the supervision of a three-judge panel and began Tuesday in local election offices and courtrooms across the state. Deeds had attempted to have all ballots rerun through the same machines on which they were tabulated on Election Day.

But the judicial panel rejected his motion, and paper ballots were the only ones that were recounted in most places. In localities with optical scanners, the most widely used among four types of voting methods in the state, officials merely double-checked the math by comparing totals on computerized ballot tapes and poll books recording how many people voted.Then, state police picked up sealed boxes holding the results from each jurisdiction and ferried them to state election officials in Richmond to certify. Most arrived in cardboard boxes sealed with packing tape, although one local election board sent the results in a large Tupperware container, said Jean Jensen, secretary of the State Board of Elections."